Working on vehicles is dangerous. Mechanics are trained in how to do it safely. If you choose to work on your own vehicle, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. This page is simply an account for how my experience went.
Fixing Stripped Steering Knuckle Threads
As I mentioned in my other article on replacing the ball joints of a Dakota, one of the largest issues with these trucks is having the brake caliper pin's threads strip out and to my enjoyment, I found mine had been cross threaded by the last person to change brakes... One way to avoid this is by not using an air ratchet to tighten them down. In any case my temporary solution was to drill and tap to a new size and then weld in some extra support material.
This is pretty much what I had concocted at the end of replacing my ball joints but I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted something a little more indestructible. If I remember correctly, the bolts were 1/2"-13. With such coarse threads I only had about 5-6 threads holding each bolt in.
I picked up some thread couplers that had an outer diameter of just over half an inch. Since they were hexagonal in shape I made a square peg fit a round hole by turning them down in my lathe. Again I left the diameter at just over half an inch even after turning them round.
As straight as I could I drilled holes through the welded material from the time I fixed them after replacing the ball joints. I then hammered the almost press fit coupler pieces into the steering knuckle. Having a tight fit was ideal as welding them in would not change their orientation much.
Another shot from the front. As you can see I left a little of the couplers sticking out. I planned to use the lip as a better welding point and grind them down later.
Here they are welded in. Still need some grinding work done.
A shot from the back. I had to be very careful not to damage the threads of the coupler with the heat generated by the welder. I now needed to make something that would allow the bolts to run out of threads and torque down on.
I decided to make custom spacers and weld them to the bolts. In a couple pictures you will see the master plan come into action. I started with a piece of steel round stock.
Chucked in the lathe I drilled out the center first with a bit that was just slightly larger than the bolts.
Another point of these spacers is to take up the extra space between the bolts and the holes of the caliper. The original pins the caliper slid on had a larger diameter than the bolts I was using. With the spacers drilled and the end supported, I turned the diameter down to the original diameter of the caliper pins.
The final product ready to be welded to the bolts.
With the bolts finally finished I put the entire brake assembly back together. I made sure to grease the bolts well so the caliper would have less frictions riding on the. To date (half a year) this solution is still holding with no unusual amount of brake pad wear. If the brake pads were wearing out unevenly, that would be an indication that I did not drill the holes straight.